Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies had their second opportunity to ride the 2012 1000cc YZR-M1 today at the Misano circuit in San Marino. The test followed Lorenzo’s flawless Grand Prix win yesterday, his second Italian victory of the season. The bikes tested were the same as first used in Brno in August, with minor changes to set up and electronics for the tighter, twistier Misano circuit.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position 1st - Time 1.33.7 - Laps 60

“It’s been a little bit more difficult here than Brno, which is a very fast track. Misano is a little bit slower so the difference between the 800 and the 1000 is much smaller. It’s difficult to understand the riding style you must use straight away. We’ve made a lot of progress in a couple of hours and the bike has a lot of potential. I’m very excited about the future. We’ve been working on the electronics to help in the braking area but mainly I’ve been getting used to the riding style of the bike and also adapting the bike to my riding.”

Ben Spies - Position 2nd - Time 1.34.3 - Laps 74

“We rode the same bike as we did in Brno but we changed a bunch of things and started working on a lot of electronics. Misano is a much more physical track; it’s quite tight so there’s a lot of wheelies and rear spinning. It’s fun to ride but very physical compared to the 800. I enjoyed it a lot and we went quite fast on it, getting some pretty good lap times. We’ve got a lot of data now for the engineers to go away and work on the next step for our next test. I think next year is going to be really good and I’m looking forward to racing the thousand!”

Test Times

1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'33.7
2. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'34.3

Misano Record Lap
J.Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2011, 1'33.906

Misano Best Lap
C.Stoner (Ducati) 2008, 1'33.378

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